Matador Network's Blog, page 1266

Starbucks to open in Italy

It may seem like there’s a Starbucks on every street corner, but that’s not true if you’re in Italy…yet. Starbucks is set to make its first foray into Italy, and it’s doing it with flair. Italy’s first Reserve Roastery opened today, in an ornate former post office in Milan, on the Piazza Cordusio. The 25,000-square-foot store will offer classic Starbucks beverages as well as artisanal cocktails and baked goods, and is described by Starbucks in a press release as “both an homage to the city of Milan and a celebration of everything Starbucks has learned about coffee in its 47-year history.”

Opening a Starbucks in Italy has been a goal for the company since 1998, though it’s taken two decades to actually get there. In a statement, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz said, “During my first trip to Milan in 1983, I was captivated by the sense of community I found in the city’s espresso bars — the moments of human connection that passed so freely and genuinely between baristas and their customers.”

If you’ve been waiting 20 years for Starbucks in Italy, wait no longer. The Reserve Roastery officially opened its doors to the public this morning. Currently, the only other luxurious Starbucks Reserve stores are in Seattle and Shanghai, but more are planned in the near future for Chicago, New York, and Tokyo.

H/T: Travel & Leisure

More like this: 7 unique ways people drink coffee around the world

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New “Stranger Things” mazes to open

If you’re like the rest of us, you’ve already finished binging seasons one and two of Stranger Things, and having major withdrawals while waiting for season three. These new attractions at Universal Studios might not totally quench your Stranger Things thirst, but they should at least make the wait a little more bearable. New Stranger Things-themed haunted houses are set to open later this month at Universal Studios Orlando, Hollywood, and Singapore, as part of the annual Halloween Horror Nights celebration. And they’re the real deal too, as Universal actually teamed up with Netflix to create the design and ensure the accuracy of every detail.

Photo: Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights

Each park at Universal will have its own show-inspired maze, complete with recognizable rooms and other spaces. Visitors can expect to find the Hawkins National Laboratory, the Byers family living room, Will’s bedroom, “Castle Byers” fort, and the Hawkins Middle School hallway.

Photo: Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights

It’s not for the faint of heart, though. Several scares and eerie encounters will wait around every corner. According to an April announcement, each maze will be filled with “surprising twists and unexpected turns” — so if you’re terrified of Demogorgons, this experience might not be for you.

Photo: Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights

In Orlando and Hollywood, the mazes will open to the public on September 14th, with the Singapore mazes opening on September 27th. They’ll remain open until November 3rd, so you’ll have plenty of time to get your Stranger Things fix this fall. Tickets run about $60 each, and reserving ahead of time is never a bad idea.

H/T: Thrillist

More like this: A “Stranger Things” corn maze is coming to Indiana

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Busiest days to fly

You think you’re crafty leaving the Thursday before Thanksgiving, assuming the airport will be nothing but you and some lonely Starbucks baristas.

Then you get half a mile from the drop-off area and traffic’s stopped. Check-in takes an hour. Security is another hour. You need to put Icy Hot on your shoulder because it’s so sore from carrying the 70 pounds of luggage you packed into a “carry-on” duffle. Looks like you weren’t the only one who thought you were being crafty.

The thing about airport traffic is that it’s about as unpredictable as airfares. Sometimes you show up on a Friday at 6:00 PM and breeze right through. Sometimes you book a Wednesday lunch flight and it feels like all of Cincinnati did too. You might have better luck picking horse races, who knows?

Well, actually, some people do know. We got numbers from the good people at Skyscanner, the travel app that tracks historic airfares and plane loads, as well as AirHelp, the “world’s leading air passenger rights company,” to help find the busiest days at the airport in 2017. Which, hopefully, shows trends around the same times to watch for this year and into 2019.

Some are predictable, but others might surprise you, and at the very least, keep you from an unexpected long day at the airport.

Note: All travel dates and corresponding holiday dates are from 2017.

May 26th (Friday before Memorial Day) — No huge shock here, other than that it’s busier than Memorial Day itself. Maybe take an extra vacation day and leave a day early, or head out early Saturday morning.

June 30th (Friday before the Fourth of July) — In 2017, the Fourth was a four-day weekend. So plenty of people headed out on the Friday prior, making it the third busiest airport day of the year. Again, not a surprise, but look for July 3rd to be insanely crowded in 2019 ahead of another four-day weekend.

August 31st (Thursday before Labor Day) — Think you’re slick dipping out a day early on the first weekend of football season? Think again. AirHelp found this to be the second-busiest day of Labor Day weekend.

September 1st (Friday before Labor Day) — It’s the second busiest day of the year to fly, and the busiest before November. Perhaps a nice barbecue at home is in order.

November 10th — This may have been the first travel shocker of the year, as the second Friday in November was the busiest day of the entire month and that includes Thanksgiving. Either there were a LOT of people traveling for that big UConn/Central Florida game in Orlando, or everyone wanted one last weekend away before going to see the family.

November 17th (Friday before Thanksgiving) — The Friday before Thanksgiving week has become an increasingly popular day to travel, as many schools now give the entire week off, and parents are willing to take an extra few vacation days to avoid the Thanksgiving crush. The Saturday and Sunday before Thanksgiving, however, bottom out. So maybe wait a day or two if you’re planning to leave for a week.

November 22nd (Day before Thanksgiving) — Urban legend says this is the nastiest travel day of the year, but it’s actually not even the worst in November, and only the sixth busiest of the year. That’s not to say expect Thanksgiving eve to be a breeze in 2018. But don’t let it scare you too much.

November 26th (Sunday after Thanksgiving) — Another predictably busy day at the airport, as AirHelp found this to be the busiest day of the Thanksgiving travel season.

November 30th — Another surprise for those who took a full week for Thanksgiving to avoid the masses. It’s not slammed like other November dates, but saw a significant uptick in Skyscanner’s numbers from the week following Turkey Day.

December 22nd (Friday before Christmas) — The nightmare before Christmas is truly any airport on the Friday prior, the 2017 undisputed champion of busiest days to fly. It saw nearly double the traffic of the day before Thanksgiving, and quadruple some dates in February. Wait until the next day and that number drops in half.

January 2nd — This was the busiest day of the year for “return home” flights, gauged as the back half of round trips. If you’re okay with flying with a hangover, you can avoid a lot of trouble by leaving on January 1st.


More like this: Study shows that security trays are actually the grossest part of flying

The post These will be the busiest days to fly over the holidays…and the rest of the year appeared first on Matador Network.

How Gosling's Rum defines Bermuda

There is no body of freshwater on Bermuda, no wells to draw a bucket from, no rivers to quench your thirst, and definitely no melting snow on the tropical Atlantic island. Locals trust the rain for their drinking water, using stepped roofs that look like whitewashed ziggurats to collect every drop and channel it into cisterns. The law even requires every house be equipped to make the home self-sufficient for water use. Given the immense importance of roofs in the island nation, when residents finish a new home, tradition stipulates that they smash a bottle over the roof to christen it. While the practice seems to descend from the breaking of a Champagne bottle over a ship’s hull, the only bottle that blesses a new house in Bermuda is a bottle of Gosling’s Black Seal Rum.

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A post shared by Goslings (@goslingsrum) on Aug 14, 2018 at 9:16am PDT

As the longest continually operating business on the island, Gosling’s wove itself into the fabric of the Bermuda community over 200 years, becoming integral to the local economy, cuisine, and tourism. Ever since James Gosling washed ashore with £10,000 worth of booze in 1806 and set up a liquor shop in St. George’s port, the Gosling’s name has slowly become synonymous with drinking in Bermuda. Unlike many destinations that are moving more and more towards small, independent craft spirits, Bermuda’s locals take deep pride in what would appear to an outsider to be a massive commercial sponsorship of an entire island nation. Not only does the brand now make the rum for most of the cocktails on the island, but the company also acts as a distributor for many other spirits, wine, and beer, and it operates the duty-free shops at the airport. The brand also remains the island’s largest export company, shipping dark rum and premixed Dark ‘n Stormies across the ocean.

Photo: Elena Veselova/Shutterstock

Some 60,000 locals (along with the help of plenty of visitors) carve through about 180,000 liters of Gosling’s rum every year, not only pouring it into trademark Dark ‘n Stormies (you can’t even call it a Dark ‘n Stormy, legally, if it isn’t made with Gosling’s) but also mixing up another island favorite, the Rum Swizzle, which traditionally calls for both Gosling’s Black Seal and Gold Seal rums. The brand is the go-to for pretty much any drinking occasion. As brand director Andrew Holmes puts it, “If you order a Piña Colada in Bermuda, [bartenders] are not going to use a white rum. They’re reaching for the Black Seal.” He adds that another island favorite is a Bloody Mary made with Gosling’s instead of the usual vodka, and a Rum and Coke nicknamed “Black and Coke.” “If you go order a Black and Coke, the bartender will probably assume you’re Bermudian right away.”

Gosling’s is especially prominent at big events like the yearly Cup Match, in which cricket teams from either end of the island face off. This year, Holmes says attendees drank thousands of liters over the two-day national sports holiday. Everett Shiell, a local limo driver, recalls seeing the cricket teams at the airport ahead of the match, distributing Dark ‘n Stormies to visitors arriving for the event. He laughs at the guerilla marketing strategy and adds, “You can’t be in business hundreds of years not knowing what you’re doing.”

Photo: Fanfo/Shutterstock

Rum isn’t just for drinking in Bermuda, though. The local fish chowder, available at nearly every restaurant, also incorporates Gosling’s. Gordon Henry, a bartender at The Lobster Pot (where the fish chowder is famous) has been enjoying dark-rum-infused chowder for as long as he can remember. Cooks include rum in the base of the soup, concentrating the sweet, molasses flavor into the rich tomato-based broth. Since the alcohol cooks off, many restaurants serve the soup with additional rum, either topped off at the bar or available in small cruets at the table. Along with another local brand, Outerbridge’s Sherry Pepper Sauce, the rum spices up the fish chowder until it becomes a heady bowl of flaming flavor. When asked if someone might substitute another rum for Black Seal, Henry looks as if he’s short-circuiting, finally stammering, “It would be impossible. You could only use Gosling’s.”

But of all the ways you can find to use a bottle of black rum, the explosive show of smashing a bottle on a new house, called a “roof wetting ceremony,” speaks loudest to the unique culture that has sprung up around the brand. “Everyone who builds a new house from scratch… has a roof wetting ceremony,” explains Paulo Arrada, who worked in construction for years on the island, “and traditionally you use Gosling’s for the ceremony.” Arrada isn’t sure about the origins of the tradition, but he does have an idea about the reason it has remained popular: “It’s basically a big party for the construction crew.” Henry is a bit more precious with his rum, pointing out that pouring a touch of Black Seal out of the bottle will leave you equally blessed and with a nearly full bottle of rum to boot.

Photo: Maddie Benavent/Shutterstock

Setting aside the rituals and drinking customs on the island, Gosling’s is more than just a point of pride for Bermudians — it’s part of their identity. “The brand means a lot in Bermuda,” Arrada says, not only as a staple on home bars for Dark ‘n Stormies with every meal, not only as a local delicacy or for housewarming celebrations, but also as a representative of Bermuda abroad, bringing the “spirit of Bermuda” to rum drinkers everywhere.


More like this: 5 epic experiences for rum lovers on National Rum Day

The post How Gosling’s Rum defines Bermudian culture appeared first on Matador Network.

Best boutique hotels in Chicago

When you visit a one-of-a-kind city like Chicago, it only makes sense to stay in a hotel that reflects the town’s unique character. Rather than paying a premium to stay in an average chain hotel or rolling the dice on an Airbnb, stay at one of our favorite boutique hotels in Chicago, and make your next visit extra special.

1. The Guesthouse

Photo: The Guesthouse Hotel/Facebook

Chicago is a city of neighborhoods, and to really experience it you need to get out of downtown and into those neighborhoods. The easiest way to do that is to actually stay in one of them in the first place. The Guesthouse is a great hotel located in the Andersonville neighborhood. The rooms here are all suites that have kitchens complete with all the cookware and utensils you could need to feel at home in Chicago. The most Chicago touch of all, though, is the barbeque grills that come standard on the balconies of the rooms. If you’re grilling a brat on the balcony, you’re doing Chicago right.

2. Hotel Lincoln

Photo: Hotel Lincoln

Chicago is known for its unpretentious style and simple Midwestern charm. For a hotel that reflects these qualities, look to Hotel Lincoln, the local outpost of boutique hotelier Joie de Vivre. Besides the fantastic location in the heart of Lincoln Park, the hotel offers fun, quirky perks like free bicycles to take out to the nearby Lakefront Trail. As an added bonus, this Chicago boutique hotel is pet-friendly.

3. Freehand Chicago

Photo: Freehand Chicago/Facebook

If we told you that Freehand Chicago has a hostel-style quad room with two separate bunk beds that sleep four people, you would probably assume that it was not actually a hotel. Yet it is — and a very stylish one at that. Freehand has more traditional hotel rooms, as well, and penthouse suites are available for the high rollers. But there is one other thing it borrows from the hostel scene: the idea that travelers can be a part of a community with one another. Don’t worry, though; this is definitely not a flip-flops-needed-in-the-shower kind of accommodation.

4. The Robey

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A post shared by The Robey Chicago (@therobeychicago) on Jul 18, 2018 at 8:08am PDT

Towering over the intersection that is the beating heart of Chicago’s trendy Wicker Park neighborhood, The Robey is one of the city’s best boutique hotels. The 89-room hotel is set in a late-1920s Art Deco skyscraper that has been restored in a way that preserves its heritage while introducing modern comforts and convenience. The rooftop terrace with its small but nice pool gives you panoramic views from high above all the surrounding buildings and on to the downtown skyline.

5. Ivy Boutique

Photo: IVY Hotel/Facebook

If you want to stay near the Magnificent Mile but don’t want the usual big, boring downtown hotel, Ivy Boutique Hotel is the perfect balance of boutique originality and prime location. With only 63 rooms over 16 stories, just steps away from the shopping of Michigan Avenue, Ivy gives you a great base from which to explore the city. At the end of a long day exploring the city, you can unwind with spa services or enjoy a drink with a view from the 16th-story Ivy Sky Terrace.

6. The Dana

Photo: dana hotel and spa/Facebook

If you’re looking for the ultimate in style in the heart of the bustling River North neighborhood, The Dana Hotel and Spa is the perfect place to stay in Chicago. While the 216 rooms are more than the typical boutique hotel, the industrial style and pure class of this hotel definitely give the feel of a smaller luxury property.

7. The Alise

Photo: The Alise Chicago – A Staypineapple Hotel/Facebook

If you want to stay downtown near Millennium Park, the Theater District, and the shopping while really steeping yourself in classical Chicago, you need to check out The Alise. This boutique hotel is in a restored 1895 building designed by Daniel Burnham — the architect and city planner responsible for a lot of the initiatives that have made Chicago the city it is today. It’s a gorgeous building, and the modern renewal ensures every modern need and comfort is met.

8. Soho House

Photo: Soho House & Co/Facebook

Soho House is an exclusive private members’ club based in London with locations around the world. Most branches have rooms that members are able to use but that the public can also rent as hotel rooms, and the Chicago Soho House is no exception. Staying in this hotel is like becoming a temporary member of an exclusive club, and it’s a pretty cool club, too. Members are typically artists and creative directors, not lawyers and stock brokers.


More like this: 9 amazing things to do in Chicago that you won’t find in a guidebook

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Hiking Hanging Lake in Colorado

The turquoise waters of Hanging Lake lie between a weaving riverbed and the towering walls of Glenwood Canyon. Seemingly clinging to a cliff’s edge, this peculiar lake was created by a geologic fault that caused its bed to delicately drop from the valley above.

Hanging Lake is one of the most visited trails in Colorado, and the Forest Service may soon cap the number of daily visitors to protect its fragile ecosystem. The 2.8-mile round-trip hike gains more than 1,200 feet in elevation and offers amazing views — at any time of year. Here are photos from hikes around Hanging Lake in both warm and snowy weather.




1

Deep in Glenwood Canyon on a warm Monday morning, a meandering paved trail quickly transforms into a dirt ascent as the Hanging Lake Trail begins.

2

The glistening waterfalls and vibrant moss clinging to the rocks make you feel like you’ve just stepped into a temperate rainforest.

3

Rock formations soar above like castle spires as the trail’s 1,204-foot elevation gain leads hikers up into the clouds. With vistas like this, it’s clear why this is one of the most popular trails in Colorado.

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4

A low-lying cloud bank that’s been approaching all morning finally envelops the surroundings. The canyon slowly disappears from view as the trail gets steeper.

5

On a clear, crisp day in a different season, this same spot offers a sweeping vista of the surrounding canyon.

6

After the uphill climb, hikers get one of the first views of the crystal clear waters of Hanging Lake. The water might look inviting, but to protect the delicate ecosystem, neither humans nor dogs are permitted in the lake or on its floating logs.

7

The shores of Hanging Lake are often packed with people, but early on a weekday morning it’s mostly empty. The lake’s incredible turquoise hue comes from carbonate minerals that have dissolved in the water.

8

With proper gear, the Hanging Lake Trail can also be completed during winter, offering new views of classic sites. Make sure to bring extra layers and traction for the ice-coated trail.

9

Hiking a bit further will take you to Spouting Rock, a powerful waterfall plunging from a cavern in the wall above.

10

The clouds begin to clear and blue skies appear for the hike back out. It’s late morning now, and more hikers are starting off towards Hanging Lake.

More like this: 8 of the best hiking trails in Colorado

The post Hiking Hanging Lake, one of Colorado’s most stunning trails appeared first on Matador Network.

Fly cheap to Iceland and India

For the cost of an extra day of park-hopping, you can now ditch the whole family in Florida and go to Iceland.

Not that we’re suggesting you bail on the entire family, leaving them to wait on interminable lines in oppressive humidity by themselves. But if by day three of your Disney World vacation your nephew’s insistence on seeing Goofy is wearing a little thin, there are now insanely cheap ways to get as far away from Orlando as possible. WOW Air, the folks who almost single-handedly flooded Iceland with US visitors, is now offering $99 flights from Orlando to Iceland in addition to $149 fares to Europe and $399 flights to India.

So let’s say you’re cruising the France Pavilion at Epcot and think to yourself, “Man, these crepes and fine wine are pretty cool, but I’d love to experience them with some authentic French chain-smoking too!” — you’re only a cab ride to the airport away. Flights to Paris will be going for $149 from Orlando International Airport. Or if the England Pavilion got you all excited with its pubs, curries, and jolly accents, you can experience it without that annoying Florida sunshine with flights to London for $149 too.

Other European cities with cheap fares from Orlando include Amsterdam, Stockholm, Brussels, Copenhagen, Dublin, Edinburgh, Frankfurt, and Berlin.

But maybe your Disney trip has pulled your pendulum of wholesomeness and organization a little too far to one side, and you’re jonesing for something completely unpredictable. A place where traffic laws are a mere suggestion and people ride on top of trains. Well, lucky you, because after spending a few days in the happiest place on Earth, you can jump on a plane to New Delhi — where there won’t be lines for anything, because the concept of orderly queues doesn’t exist. Flights from MCO start at $399 each way, cheaper than a night at the Grand Floridian during high season.

Now remember, this is WOW Air so that base price is literally just the cost to get you a valid boarding pass. It doesn’t include stuff like carry-on luggage, checked bags, a seat assignment, or food. So unless you’re cool riding in a middle seat all the way to India with no food and only the clothes on your back, odds are it’ll cost you a little more. Though after shelling out $20 for a hamburger combo meal at Disney, that probably won’t even phase you.

Also remember that these are promotional fares, only available on selected flights, with limited seats selling for dirt cheap. So if you were planning a New Year’s mission to Paris for around $149 one way, maybe you should consider somewhere else.

Still, these deals are pretty magical, and if you either live in Central Florida or can get there easily, it’s worth taking advantage of this winter. Though that ride with the creepy singing puppets might talk about it, WOW is also showing us that it really is a small world after all.

Special thanks to our friends at TravelPirates, who, though they might not sing and fire cannons while you float by on boats, did hip us to this insane offer.

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The post WOW Air just launched absurdly cheap flights to Europe and India appeared first on Matador Network.

Travelers saved by social media

The rescue of two American travelers in Bali was fueled largely in part by social media, adding a new layer to the phrase “It’s all in who you know.” CNN reported that traveler Michael Lythcott and another American named Stacey Eno were involved in a scooter accident on the Indonesian island of Bali that sent them careening over an embankment and into a ditch in late August.

Lythcott is both an active traveler and social media user, and as a result of that, he has friends from multiple countries around the world that he keeps in touch with via his Facebook account. He was driving Eno on his scooter in the city of Ubud when the pair were passed by a van. Needing to stop as they approached a turn, the brakes went out. “After it passed, I could see a turn coming up,” Lythcott told CNN, “So I hit the brakes as normal, but the brakes didn’t slow the bike, leaving us very little time to make a move and not enough time to negotiate the turn.”

The pair, which had arrived in Bali a mere seven hours earlier, went off the road and into a ravine. “My back felt half broken,” Lythcott said. “I couldn’t move and barely could pull myself up when I found a thick vine in the dark. Every move, I kept slipping.” Eno was also injured and unable to escape from the ravine. “I then did think ‘I’m gonna die here,’ because no one knew we were here or went over and we were both hurt and for a minute I couldn’t even remember how we got there.”

In the accident, a cell phone with an Indonesian SIM card that Lythcott had been carrying went flying. Fortunately, he still had his American phone in his pocket. Out of options and trapped in the dark, Lythcott turned to social media in a desperate plea for help. His post read, “Help. In danger. Call police.” A Los Angeles-based friend determined the pair’s location using online maps, after Lythcott had marked the location via a WhatsApp pin drop. Once this was noted on Lythcott’s post, another friend in Prague researched contact numbers of the local consulate and another friend, based in the Netherlands, got in touch with the local police.

“I got a call from a guy named Joe from the [consulate] who said help was coming but to help him find me,” Lythcott recalled. “I told him there was a hotel near my GPS pin, that I’d be just before that hotel, then my battery died.” A few hours later, he heard the rescue party above them on the road and yelled out. Lythcott and Eno were lifted by the team into back of a flatbed truck and transported to a nearby hospital, then to another one in the town of Kuta after X-rays determined major medical procedures were necessary.

Lythcott suffered a fractured skull, broken wrist, and a perforated abdomen. Chest tubes were used to inflate his lungs; he had surgery on his skull to fix a fracture, on his broken wrist, and then on his abdomen to fix the perforation.

Eno fractured both of her cheekbones, her nose, and left wrist in the accident, but was released from the hospital.

Once he’s able to leave the hospital, Lythcott plans to fly to his sister’s home in Atlanta to recover from the tragic accident. “I’m super lucky,” he said.

H/T: CNN Travel

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The post Emergency Facebook post saves travelers’ lives after scooter accident appeared first on Matador Network.

Study shows viruses found at airport

If you’ve ever found yourself feeling ill after a flight, those surrounding you in the security line may be to blame. It turns out that the security trays may be the dirtiest part of the entire flying experience, thanks to high volume of people and possessions using them each day. Scientists from England’s University of Nottingham and Finland’s National Institute for Health and Welfare conducted tests on the plastic trays flyers use to send their possessions through the security scanner at Helsinki Airport. Their discoveries are quite shocking, particularly if you’re a diligent germaphobe. The New York Times reported that the scientists discovered traces of multiple viral diseases on half of the trays surveyed in the study.

During the study, which took place during the winter of 2016, frequently touched surfaces at the airport were swabbed both during and after the airport’s busiest flying hours. But the dirtiest part of the flying experience appears to be the security trays, where traces of rhinovirus, the source of the common cold and the influenza A virus, were found. “At Finavia airports, the hygiene protocols are carried in accordance to health officials’ requirements — all surfaces are cleaned daily and all security checkpoint trays, etc., are washed regularly,” said Finavia, the company that operates Helsinki Airport, to the Times in an email.

While you certainly can’t control the hygiene habits of your fellow passengers, this news at least confirms the importance of following basic sanitation and cleanliness practices. Germs are everywhere, but there’s no guarantee that the unavoidable process of passing through security before your flight will result in you catching a cold. Just be sure to hit the restroom and wash your hands before settling in at the gate.

H/T: The New York Times

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Glamp in Yosemite National Park

Glamping is the perfect activity for those who enjoy time outdoors and reveling in the thrill of nature, but aren’t quite outdoor-sy enough to really rough it by ccamping in a tent. If you prefer a soft mattress, heating, and a place to plug in your phone for the night without carrying a portable charger, Yosemite National Park has the perfect spot. As of Labor Day Weekend, you can now explore Yosemite Valley or make your way up the famed Half Dome and then spend the night in rugged comfort, Oregon Trail-style.

Yosemite Pines RV Resort and Family Lodging, just west of the park, opened a collection of Conestoga wagons onsite for those looking to avoid throwing up a tent after a day exploring the high country, as reported by Afar. Some wagons sleep four while others sleep six, but all are equipped with the basic necessities to make your stay comfortable. Refrigerators and microwaves are standard, and there’s even a coffee pot in each wagon. You’ll be cozy, warm, and protected from mosquitos and other bugs, all while still technically sleeping outdoors to the comforting sounds of nature.

Each wagon has a communal fire pit and picnic table for evening jam sessions and morning breakfast prep. The wagons don’t have restroom facilities, but don’t fret — showers and toilets are located just a short walk away, though you’ll need to bring your own towel. The resort sits just outside the park’s boundary, about 25 minutes east of the town of Moccasin. The wagons are available to book year-round and cost between $139 and $179 per night. If you’re heading there soon and can book by September 30th, use the code WAGONINTRO at checkout for a limited-time offer that gives you a second night free.

H/T: Afar

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